Brady vs. Manning promises to be one of year’s best matchups

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2007 at 4:01 PM

Midway through the 2007 NFL season, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is tossing touchdown passes at a pace that has clearly established him as the frontrunner in the race for the league’s most valuable player award. As for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, well, he’s still a leading man.

Glen Farley

Midway through the 2007 NFL season, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is tossing touchdown passes at a pace that has clearly established him as the frontrunner in the race for the league’s most valuable player award.
As for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, well, he’s still a leading man.
“What’s not to be impressed by?” Brady answered when asked about Manning on Wednesday. “He does everything well.
“He throws the short stuff. He throws the deep stuff. He’s a leader,” said Brady. “He’s a clutch performer. He’s always in command of the team and of the offense. He’s a great actor. He can do it all.”
As a thespian, Brady concedes that Manning may be in a league of his own in the NFL.
“Can I act?” Brady repeated a question asked of him later during his regular midweek press conference at Gillette Stadium. “You guys tell me. Definitely not like him.”
But while Manning may be closer to winning an Oscar, with three rings on his fingers to his counterpart’s one, Brady holds the upper hand in Super Bowl championships.
Brady also holds the upper hand in head-to-head meetings, 6-3, although Manning has guided the Colts to victories in the past three.
“I try to just drop back and throw the ball to the guys that are open. He’s probably got a better arm,” said Brady. “He’s faster. He’s bigger. He’s probably smarter.
“He’s proven over the years how consistent he is. I’ve always looked up to Peyton and the way he plays. He’s gotten the best of us the last three times we’ve played them. We’ve got a great challenge and, hopefully, we’re all up for it. When you play the Colts, it’s a team effort.”
Perhaps, but it is the two quarterbacks who will share center stage in the NFL on Sunday as the leading men in their teams’ showdown inside the RCA Dome – the matchup between the 8-0 Patriots and the 7-0 Colts marking the first time in the 88-year history of the league that two undefeated teams with seven or more wins have met.
“I hope so,” Brady answered when asked if the pregame hype was right. “I hope it’s a blowout, actually. I’m sure nobody else would like that.
“They’re a great football team,” said Brady. “And I think we’ve proven over the last eight weeks that we can play at a pretty high level ourselves. Two undefeated teams and obviously with the history of these teams, it makes for a great matchup."
It certainly did this past January when Manning rallied his team from a 21-3 second-quarter deficit to a 38-34 last-minute win over the Patriots in the 2006 AFC Championship Game in Indy that sent them on to Super Bowl XLI and their 29-17 triumph over the Chicago Bears.
In the wake of that loss inside the RCA Dome, the Patriots went to the whip, many believe with the Colts specifically in mind, adding Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Donte’ Stallworth to their stable of receivers.
Aided by his new supporting cast, Brady has emerged as the NFL’s leading man this year, firing 30 TD passes in half a season (19 shy of the league-record 49 Manning threw in 2004) while compiling a passer rating of 136.2 (well above Manning’s league-record 121.1 in 2004).
To this point in the regular season, Manning ranks second to one. His 102.9 passer rating ties him for second with Jacksonville’s David Garrard in that department behind Brady’s off-the charts performance.
“I think you are seeing two very professional guys at the top of their game that are in great systems that take advantage of what they can do,” said Colts head coach Tony Dungy. “So I think the country gets to see the best of both guys.”
Enterprise

Market Place

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA ~ 33 New York Ave., Framingham, MA 01701 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service